It’s just not Spring in California without California Poppies, our State flower. I have finally begun to explore my new neighborhood and have been walking several miles each morning for the past week along the trails that rim the wildlife preserves at Lincoln Hills. With the help of a fellow photographer, I discovered a Green Heron’s nest with four chicks that is visible from a bridge. From there I walked further down the trail and came across a lovely field of California Poppies so I stopped to take a few shots. In the mornings walking through the preserves this past week without my camera, I have seen Great Blue Herons, Red-winged Blackbirds, a Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Egrets, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, the Green Heron, Turkey Vultures, Black Phoebes, and of course the requisite golf course Canada Geese with a passel of chicks swimming behind. I’m told there are American Avocets in a pond I haven’t visited yet, Beavers that have a lodge on one of the ponds, and Great Horned Owl branchlings. I’m sorry I’ve taken so long to discover all the wonders of my new home. Can’t wait to find out what else is here.